Charles Okah escapes from Kuje prisons

A brother of Henry Okah, the jailed leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Charles Okah has escaped from Kuje Prison in Abuja.

It was learnt that Okah scaled the fence last night about 7:30pm, and massive search has begun with a view to re-arresting him.

Okah, who had been on trial in Abuja for the 2010 Independence Day bombing that killed 27 people.

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In a swift reaction, the Nigerian Prisons Service told Premium Times, an online newspaper that the suspected mastermind of the 2010 Independence Day bombings, Charles Okah, did not escape from Kuje Prison in Abuja, but was still in custody.

“It is not true that he escaped,” the spokesperson for the Nigerian Prisons Service, Francis Enobore, was quoted to have said.

He explained further that “He (Okah) is there (Kuje prison) hale and hearty. The comptroller of prisons in charge of the FCT was there less than 30 minutes ago and he saw him there. I spoke to the comptroller.”

Mr. Enobore actually admitted that there was an “incident” at the prison on Friday night but didn’t give details of what really transpired. He added that Okah was said not to be involved in the act, he reiterated.